Hair dryer



Oct. 13, 1970 sw n-z ET AL 3,533,169

HAIR DRYER Filed July 5, 1968 INVE NTORS James A. Richard WITNESSES Myron Swefl in Richard E Sou rer 8 Roger D. Monte BY Int. Cl. A45d U.S. C]. 34-99 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A portable hair dryer having a collapsible bonnet contoured to fit the head of a user and a compact power unit including a heater, motor and fan for effecting the flow of heated air into and out of the collapsible bonnet. The instant hair dryer is characterized by the direct attachment of the power unit at various locations to the collapsible bonnet, the bonnet along with a support member attached to the power unit and in engagement with the base of the neck, acting as the support for the power unit such that it moves with the head as it turns and such that part of the weight of the power unit is supported by the shoulders or adjacent the shoulder area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates, in general, to hair dryers and, more particularly, to hair dryers of the portable type.

Heretofore, portable hair dryers consisted of a power unit having substantial bulk, a hood (either soft or rigid) and a flexible hose to provide an air passageway from the power unit to the hood. It is well known that the wholehearted acceptance of portable hair dryers is dependent upon such things as weight, size, number of parts, and operations to be performed prior to and during use. To gain acceptance for their products, manufacturers have provided collapsible hoods and have even provided storage for the flexible hose within the confines of the power unit housing. Such units are still, to some degree, cumbersome to use, because of the operations required before and after the use thereof.

Most power units for portable hair dryers are of a size and configuration which necessitate a table or the like for the support thereof. The inconvenience of such a requirement will be appreciated, as well as the problem of inadvertently pulling or knocking the power unit, through movement of the head, from the supporting member.

Some manufacturers have solved all of the heretofore mentioned problems, by providing compact, lightweight hair dryers consisting of a single structure adapted to be held in hand when utilized. To some degree this has been a satisfactory solution to the problem, however, one grows tired of holding the hand over the head for the required length of time.

Another solution to the above-mentioned problem, as disclosed in US. patent application Ser. "No. 700,781 assigned to the same assignee as this application, is to provide a compact power unit which attaches directly (i.e. without utilizing the conventional hose) to a soft bonnet or hood at the air outlet of the power unit. While such a solution has merit over the hand-held devices, it is not without disadvantages. For example, when the head is moved about, the power unit flops around thereby creating a nuisance in the form of discomfort for the user. Furthermore, all of the weight of the power unit is supported by the head which adds to the total discomfort.

Accordingly, it is the general object of this invention to provide a new and improved portable hair dryer.

States Patent It is a more particular object of this invention to provide a new and improved portable hair dryer which due to its construction provides optimum comfort during use and which requires a minimum amount of effort to as semble for use and disassemble for storage.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved hair dryer which can be inexpensively manufactured by simple manufacturing techniques.

BRIEF SUMMARY Briefly, the above-cited objects are accomplished by providing, in a portable hair dryer, a collapsible bonnet and a compact lightweight power unit attached directly (i.e., without the use of the, heretofore, conventional flexible hose) to the bonnet at the inlet thereof. Additionally, the power unit is attached, intermediate the ends thereof, to the bonnet such that the power unit moves with the users head. In order to better distribute the weight of the power unit, a support pad is attached thereto such that the lower end thereof engages the base of the neck.

To allow quick attachment of the bonnet and the power unit, a bayonet type coupling is provided. By directly connecting the power unit to the bonnet, the conventional flexible hose and its inherent disadvantages, for example, pressure losses caused thereby and the heat loss thereto, at least during a transient heat transfer condition, are eliminated. Elimination of these losses permits the use of a smaller capacity motor and heater, resulting in substantial cost savings and added life. 7 The collapsible bonnet constitutes a somewhat conventional construction, in that it comprises an inner and outer plastic sheet with air channels therebetween. In accordance with the invention, however, a transistion duct is provided at substantially the top of the bonnet to provide communication of the outlet of the power unit with the heretofore-mentioned channels and to also provide for optimum drying of the hair, including the top of the head which, as is well known, is the most diflicult to dry.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent when considered in view of the following detailed description and drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a hair dryer, partly broken away, representing the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a power unit incorporated in the hair dryer illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, especially FIG. 1, reference character 10 designates generally a portable hair dryer comprising a power unit 11 and a collapsible hood 12.

The hood 12 comprising a multilayered structure including inner and outer walls 13 and 14, the latter of which has an opening 16 having a collar member 17 attached thereat. The walls 13 and 14 are made from any suitable material, for example, plastic. The opening 16, through the collar 17, serves as an air inlet to the bonnet 12 which communicates with a transition duct 18 disposed at a location coincident with approximately the top or crown portion of the users head when the bonnet is worn. This location, it has been found serves to optimize the drying process for this general type of hair dryer. The inner wall 13, which is adjacent the head of the user during operation, has numerous tiny holes 19 from which heated air is emitted and circulated over the head, the heated air being created by the power unit 11 and transmitted to the cavity between the Walls 13 and 14 via the transition duct 18. To provide for emission of the air from within the inner wall 13, the walls 13 and 14 are provided with aligned openings indicated at 21.

The bonnet 12 is provided with an elastic band 22 and a pair of draw strings 23 which serve to seal about the forehead, base of the head and over the ears, as well as aiding in supporting the hair dryer 10. To this end there is also provided a support member 24 formed integrally with a U-shaped cradle portion 26, the power unit 11 being received in the cradle portion 26 in a manner to be described hereinafter. The support member 24 has, at the free end thereof,.a padded portion 27 which rests on the shoulders of the user in the area of the base of the neck.

As shown in FIG. 3 the power unit 11 comprises a housing 28 formed by mating sections 29 and 30 (see FIG. 1) which are held together by a generally cylindrical combination fan shroud and screen 31 and a combination discharge ring and screen 32 made from any resilient material, for example, plastic. The housing sections 29 and 30 are provided with flange portions 33 and 34 which cooperate with an annular flange 36 of the shroud 31, to retain the latter on the housing 28. The discharge ring 32 is attached to the housing 28 by a tongue and groove arrangement indicated at 37. Supported within the housing 28, by a bolt and nut arrangement 38, 39, associated with cooperating tabs and 35', is a motor 41.

The motor 41 is preferably a 24 volt DC unit having a nominal speed of approximately 15,000 r.p.m. Conventional household power is supplied to the power unit 11 via a power cord 42 comprising four conductors A, B, C and D which are controlled by a remote switch 40. Power to the motor 41 is supplied via conductor A, a portion of a resistance element 43 forming a part of a resistance heating structure 44, and a full-wave rectifier bridge network 46. The 120 volt AC household power is thereby converted to 24 volts DC. Conductor B serves to provide 110 volt AC power to the heater structure 44 through a thermal overload switch 47.

The heater structure 44 comprises the resistance element 43 wrapped around a pair of electrically non-conducting plates 48 and 49 disposed perpendicular to each other. The heater structure 44 is positioned in an upper half or portion 51 of the housing 28 by means of integrally molded anchor tabs 52. The upper half 51 of the housing 28 is disposed at an angle relative to the lower half so that the housing 28 better fits the contour of the head.

The motor 41 has an output shaft 53 which has, press fitted thereto, a fan structure 54 which effects flow of air through the housing 28 in a direction such that the air passes over the heater structure 44, last.

Attachment of the power unit 11 to the bonnet 12 is accomplished through the cooperation of longitudinal flanges 56, molded or otherwise suitably provided in the housing section 28 (see FIG. 2), and similarly constructed flanges 57 in the U-shaped cradle 26 which clip over flanges 56 to hold the housing in cradle 26. Longitudinal positioning of the power unit is attained through the connection of the ring 32 to the collar member 17 by means of a bayonet type coupling comprising a pin and slot arrangement 58 and 59. A pair of outwardly projecting longitudinal flanges 61 of the cradle member 26 are attached in a suitable manner, for example, by a heat welding process, to the inner and outer walls 1.3 and 14 of the bonnet 12 as indicated at 62.

It will now be appreciated that there has been provided a compact, lightweight hair dryer which lends itself to an optimum degree of comfort to the user and which represents simplictiy in construction.

Since numerous changes may be made in the abovedescribed apparatus and diflerent embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a portable hair dryer, in combination,

a housing structure comprising:

first and second housing sections cooperating to form a substantially cylindrical structure,

a first cylindrical member insertable on one end of said housing structure over mating parts of said sections,

a second cylindrical member insertable on the opposite end of said housing structure and over mating parts of said housing sections,

said cylindrical members and said housing sections being provided with annular flange means cooperating to retain said cylindrical members on said houshousing structure ends and to thereby retain said housing sections in cooperative relationship,

a heater structure supported in said housing structure,

and a motor and fan combination in said housing structure for eflecting flow of air over said heater structure,

a collapsible bonnet provided with means cooperating with means provided on said housing structure for attaching the former and the latter together at a plurality of locations,

one of the attaching means comprises a pin and groove arrangement provided in one of said cylindrical members and a collar carried by said bonnet in an area comprising an air inlet to the bonnet,

another of the attaching means comprises a substantially U-shaped cradle member having a pair of radially extending flanges extending along the longitudinal axis thereof,

said flanges having inwardly and outwardly extending segments,

said outwardly extending segments being attached to said bonnet and said inwardly extending segments cooperating with a pair of longitudinally extending flanges of said housing structure to hold the housing structure in the cradle.

2. Structure as specified in claim 1 wherein,

said housing structure is attached to the outside of said bonnet,

and said housing structure comprises an upper portion which is disposed at an obtuse angle toward the bonnet to provide a substantially contoured fit of the housing structure at the back of a users head.

3. Structure as specified in claim 2 wherein,

said housing structure is provided internally thereof, in the area of said upper portion, with spaced apart tabs for supporting said heater structure.

4. Structure as specified in claim 1 including,

a support member depending from said hair dryer and having a padded free end terminating at approximately the base of the neck for engagement with the back between the shoulders.

5. A portable hair dryer comprising:

a collapsible bonnet for fitting about the head and covering the hair to be dried having an air inlet means at substantially the top thereof and means to firmly attach said bonnet to the head;

a power unit including a substantially cylindrical housing supporting therein heater structure, and a motor and fan combination for effecting air flow over said heater, said housing having an air inlet at one end and an air outlet at the other end;

means to removably connect the air outlet end of said housing to the air inlet of said bonnet;

clip means carried by said bonnet to hold said housing adjacent the outside of said bonnet, whereby the power unit is attached to said bonnet, by said connecting means and said clip means; and I a support member depending from said clip means and adapted to be received on the back of a wearer 5 to support the weight of said power unit.

6. A portable hair dryer according to claim 5 in which the substantially cylindrical housing is generally contoured to fit about the back of the wearers head when the bonnet is placed thereon.

7. A portable hair dryer according to claim 5 in which said support member terminates with a padded free end at a point substantially at the base of the neck for engagement with the back of the wearer.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,073,037 1/1963 Fay 34-99 3,108,862 10/1963 Toulmin 34-99 3,261,107 7/1966 Ponczek et al. 3499 3,281,955 11/1966 Clark et a1. 34-99 FREDERICK L. MATTESON, JR., Primary Examiner H. B. RAMEY, Assistant Examiner 

